Rights organisation Ain o Salish Kendra or ASK has condemned police and activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League for carrying out “unlawful and unconstitutional” checking of mobile phone information to make sure whether a commuter is heading to a BNP rally on Saturday. On Saturday that members of Chhatra League, a unit of the governing party, had assaulted at least 12 opposition supporters on the Dhaka University campus after scrutinising their phones for information on whether they were heading to the rally, which took place at the Golapbagh ground in the city.
The assaulted men were later handed over to police. “Privacy is one of the fundamental rights of an individual, guaranteed in Article 43 of the Constitution. Actions that violate one’s privacy are unlawful and unconstitutional,” reads a statement issued by ASK on Saturday.
Similarly, people from different walks of life alleged that police personnel manning the checkpoints on the highways near the entrances to Dhaka forced them to hand over their phones so that the members of the law-enforcing agency could check information to find out whether the individuals had allegiance to the BNP.
Reports coming out from adjacent areas near Dhaka also indicated that police and Chhatra League members forcibly carried out similar searches. Police claimed that they carried out such an unconventional search as they had intel that some BNP-aligned saboteurs were in play to wreak havoc centring the rally. A Dhaka University-based Chhatra League leader, seeking anonymity, told bdnews24.com that they only handed over the men, suspected of “carrying out sabotage work” to police.
An elderly victim of the attack named Faruk Hossain Jamaddar said he, accompanied by some other BNP supporters, was on his way in the Dhaka Udyan area to attend the rally. “When we reached the Nilkhet intersection, the awaiting Chhatra League members detained and beat us and snatched our mobile phones before handing us over to police,” he said. Condemning these acts, ASK said such forcible checking of mobile phones is a “gross violation of an individual’s right to privacy as a person’s privacy is closely related to his dignity.”
